New Zealand to Open 1,900-mile Trail

Te Araroa will run the length of the country

ShareTweetEmail

On December 3, New Zealand will open the Te Araroa hiking trail, which will stretch 3,000 kilometers, or 1,900 miles, from from Cape Reinga south to Zealand Bluff. Built by the Te Araroa Trust, the project relied heavily on volunteers and donations over its 17-year construction period and frequently hit legal barriers. Spanning the length of the country, the trail will take approximately four months for hikers to traverse and will be one of the longest continuous foot trails in the world.

0 Comments

Anchorage, Alaska Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/Wikimedia

Kenyan Runner Loses Feet to Frostbite

Marko Chesto spent 2 days in AK storm

ShareTweetEmail

The Kenyan runner and University of Alaska Anchorage student who went missing in a snow storm for two days has lost both his feet after suffering severe frostbite. Doctors amputated Marko Chesto's feet above the ankle on Thursday after he was found at a hotel early on the morning of November 9. His shoes had frozen to his feet. Chesto has since said that he was "going through a lot of personal issues," at the time of his disappearance.

0 Comments

El Capitan Photo: Mike Murphy

Trotter Climbs The Prophet on El Capitan

Second-ever ascent of route

ShareTweetEmail

Canadian climber Sonnie Trotter has made the second ascent of The Prophet (5.13d R), the difficult and dangerous free route established by Leo Houlding on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park last year. Trotter and partner Will Stanhope spent five weeks in Yosemite working the route—his first on El Cap—before finally sending. "The Prophet is one of the richest, most deeply rooted climbing experiences I have ever had," Trotter wrote on his blog. "It was more like an expedition than a climbing trip." Stanhope reportedly freed all but one of the route's pitches, the notoriously hard A1 Beauty.

0 Comments

Jeannie Longo Photo: MollySVH/Flickr

Longo Cleared of Missed-Test Violation

French cyclist had missed three tests

ShareTweetEmail

French cyclist Jeannie Longo will not face a ban from cycling two months after French anti-doping authorities announced that she had missed three out-of-competition drug tests. In a decision released on Tuesday, the French cycling federation said that Longo, 53, was not in a pool of athletes required to disclose their locations when authorities tried and failed to test her in June. Longo is the winningest cyclist in French history, with nine world championship titles and an Olympic gold medal to her credit. Her husband, Patrice Ciprelli, is being investigated for buying EPO in 2007. Longo has made ambiguous statements about performance-enhancing drug use in the past.

0 Comments

Dirt jump Photo: Gabriel Amadeus/Flickr

BMX Rider in Coma After Pool Accident

Searls misjudges jump from balcony to pool

ShareTweetEmail

BMX rider Dane Searls is in a coma after a failed jump from a nightclub balcony into a pool on Sunday. Searls, who set a world record on Friday with an 18-meter dirt jump, injured his back and head when he landed headfirst on a cement deck surrounding the pool at Billy’s Beach House in Australia. The 23-year-old is most famous for his viral “Giants of Dirt” project.